William Bell Riley (1861-1947) was born in Green County, Indiana and very early as¬pired to be a lawyer. Finances kept him from this goal, but in 1885 he attended Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and finished the seminary program in three years. He pastored small churches in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Moving to Chicago in 1893, by hard work and energy he increased the membership of Calvary Baptist Church from sixty to five hundred in just four years.
Riley considered himself first a pastor but also a revivalist, a civic reformer, an educator, and an ecclesiastical politician. He was also a thorough fundamentalist who saw liberalism creeping into the churches and into the Northern Baptist Convention. Forming the Fundamentalist Fellowship, he and others tried to stem the tide. By 1930, he realized the task was impossible. In his later years, he and other well-known Bible teachers spent time fighting what turned out to be a forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a publication purporting to outline a plot to destroy Christian civilization and also supposedly advocating an international Jewish conspiracy. This proved to be the dark side of his energetic career.
Though Riley lived a controversial life, he had established his Northwestern Schools, a series of biblical study centers scattered across the Upper Midwest. Near his death in August 1947, he appointed young Billy Graham to take over this teaching network. At his death, he was called "a prima donna of fundamentalism" and Harry Ironside called him one of the greatest leaders ever.
Riley stood strongly for two major biblical doctrines: inerrancy of Scripture and dispensational premillennialism. He taught a coming apostasy, the premillennial rapture of the church, the Tribulation, the Antichrist, Armageddon, and the coming kingdom reign of Christ. He was popular in teaching at prophetic conferences and so knowledgeable on prophetic issues that C. I. Scofield asked him to contribute to the Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1909. He declined because of other pressing duties.
Riley worked hard fighting liberalism and evolution in the school systems and in the denominations. Though in a sense he lost the struggle, he has to be admired for his passion and persistence. At the time of his death, seventy percent of Baptist pastors in Minnesota were alumni of his Northwestern Schools. Though modernism had already taken hold of the educational process and denominational power, Riley had the most influence, at least for awhile, with the people and the pastors.
Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and finished the seminary program in three years. He pastored small churches in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Moving to Chicago in 1893, by hard work and energy he increased the membership of Calvary Baptist Church from sixty to five hundred in just four years.
Riley considered himself first a pastor but also a revivalist, a civic reformer, an educator, and an ecclesiastical politician. He was also a thorough fundamentalist who saw liberalism creeping into the churches and into the Northern Baptist Convention. Forming the Fundamentalist Fellowship, he and others tried to stem the tide. By 1930, he realized the task was impossible. In his later years, he and other well-known Bible teachers spent time fighting what turned out to be a forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a publication purporting to outline a plot to destroy Christian civilization and also supposedly advocating an international Jewish conspiracy. This proved to be the dark side of his energetic career.
Though Riley lived a controversial life, he had established his Northwestern Schools, a series of biblical study centers scattered across the Upper Midwest. Near his death in August 1947, he appointed young Billy Graham to take over this teaching network. At his death, he was called "a prima donna of fundamentalism" and Harry Ironside called him one of the greatest leaders ever.
Riley stood strongly for two major biblical doctrines: inerrancy of Scripture and dispensational premillennialism. He taught a coming apostasy, the premillennial rapture of the church, the Tribulation, the Antichrist, Armageddon, and the coming kingdom reign of Christ. He was popular in teaching at prophetic conferences and so knowledgeable on prophetic issues that C. I. Scofield asked him to contribute to the Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1909. He declined because of other pressing duties.
Riley worked hard fighting liberalism and evolution in the school systems and in the denominations. Though in a sense he lost the struggle, he has to be admired for his passion and persistence. At the time of his death, seventy percent of Baptist pastors in Minnesota were alumni of his Northwestern Schools. Though modernism had already taken hold of the educational process and denominational power, Riley had the most influence, at least for awhile, with the people and the pastors.
